Wall plates

I took this photo late yesterday evening, so I had little or no natural light, so my source of light was just the dining room overhead light which made for terrible shadows! Settings were RAW, AV mode, f/2.2, ss 1/60, brightened and cropped in PSE4. The composition was kind of dull, so I tried to tilt it in PSE4, but I couldn't get it to work. I've got to learn more about PSE! CC welcome and TFL!

The Best Pens!

These are my very favorite pens! I have some at work and some at home, and I'm very protective of someone walking off with them. They're Pentel RSVP Razzle Dazzle pens, and while I was shopping at Target yesterday, I found them on clearance for $.98 for a pack of 5. I bought the only 2 packs they had, and I was really jazzed about it, until I realized that they were probably on clearance because they're being phased out! Bummer! Settings for these shots were RAW, AV mode, 800 ISO, 50 mm lens. The first was f/8.0, ss 1/100, the second was f/4.5, ss 1/15 (no wonder it's soft!). HHCC please! Thanks!

Macro Flower Shots

We've had some nice weather lately, so I had to get out of the house to take some shots! Unfortunately, I don't have any pretty, flowering trees in my yard, so I snuck over to my neighbor's to get these. Settings were RAW, Av mode, ISO 400. On the first, f/1.8, ss 1/4000, 50mm lens. On the second, f/5.6, 1/500, 75-300mm lens. I was really hoping to get that waterdrop falling in the first one, but couldn't manage it - oh well! CC always appreciated. Thanks!

Common household object, at least in my house!

A bucket of softballs or baseballs sitting around is pretty commonplace at my house this time of year. I'm always tripping over one near the door or in the kids' rooms! I had a hard time finding a good focal point in this shot - where should the focus have been? Settings were RAW, AV mode, f/5.6, ss 1/320, 28-90 lens, ISO 400. CC Please!


This is a followup from yesterday's post, someone (I think it was Becks) suggested I run Urban Acid on this shot. I used Jess's Urban Acid Action for PSE (thanks Jess!). What do you think?

Becca Boo!

So much for staying on theme! I did a pretty good job last week with the favorite color theme, but I'm not getting a very good start this week! I had no time this weekend to take pictures for the upcoming topic, so I'm posting some photos that I took of DD last week. She was cooperative for a change - my kids are pretty tired of me practicing on them! Settings for both were RAW, AV mode, ISO 400, 28-90mm lens, the first was f/5.6, ss 1/640, the second was f/5.0, ss 1/800. Conversion on first and vignette on second added in PSE4. I'm looking for some HHCC on these because I'm really trying to improve my portraits. Thanks for looking!

Last day of "Green"

Wow, I can't believe I stayed on topic all week! That's a first! These are a couple of shots I took after a rain shower a few days ago. This is the reason green is my favorite color, it's the color of springtime! Settings were RAW, AV mode, ISO 400, f/5.6, ss 1/1000 & 1/200, 75-300mm lens. I was going for DOF on these, but something looks not quite right about the second one to me, (too streaky or something). HHCC always appreciated! Thanks!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a little bit of Irish luck for St. Patrick's Day! I found this four-leaf clover in a park at a Father's Day picnic ten years ago. I was just walking across to my car, and this guy was sticking up out of a clover patch! I've had it pressed between pages 216 and 217 of my Reader's Digest "Book of Christmas" in some wax paper ever since. Settings for this shot were RAW, Av mode, f/2.2, ss 1/1250, ISO 400, 50mm lens, cropped and resized in PSE4. Thanks for looking!

An apple a day...

More green for this week! Here's my take on some green apples. Settings were AV mode, f/2.2, ss 1/1250 and 1/2000, ISO 400, 50mm lens, RAW, cropped and WB set in PSE4.0. CC appreciated!

The Color of Money

This would have been a more impressive shot if it had been a stack of $100's, or even $20's, but you take what you can get! :) I'm still on theme with my favorite color, I actually took some time on Tuesday and just shot a lot of different green pics so that I can stay on topic this week. These were actually shot in the back of DH's SUV, in the carport, on my foam board reflector. Settings were RAW, AV mode, f/2.2 and f/2.5, ss 1/4000, ISO 400, 50 mm lens. CC Please! Thanks for looking!

Becca's Eyes

My favorite color is green, and my very favorite green thing in the world is my 10 year old's green eyes! I thought for 2 years that I had a blue-eyed baby, but when she was nearly 2 years old, they changed to green. She gets those gorgeous eyes from her grandfather. Settings for this were AV mode, f5.6, ss 1/1000, 28-90 lens, ISO 400. As always, CC welcome. Thanks for looking!

First Baby Pics

Well, I've been off-topic all week, so I might as well stay off-topic! This is little 8 wk old Bryant. I've taken pictures of his big brother a couple of times. I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out, but I think I should have run them through Neat Image (which I'm not familiar with), they could have stood some "smoothing out". Settings for these were AV mode, ISO 400, both with 50mm lens. The first one was f4.0, ss 1/160. The second was f7.1, ss 1/30. I applied Bella's Action "creamy b&w " to the second one in PSE.4. I'd really like HHCC on these. Thanks for looking!

A couple of baseball shots

These are a couple of shots from yesterday's game. The first is DS at 1st base, second is a teammate. I love baseball pictures, but baseball fields are not very conducive to good shots! There's usually a high fence around, so I have to find a gate to stick my lens through, and that limits the shots I can get. Settings were Tv mode, ss 1/500, f5.6, ISO 200, 75-300mm lens. Resized and sharpened (still a little soft) in PSE 4.0. CC please!

Not the shot I wanted...

I, like so many others, grabbed my tripod Saturday evening hoping to get a shot of the lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, the eclipse was nearly over by the time the moon rose here in North Texas. I kept shooting anyway, because the full moon was so gorgeous. I literally shot all over the place as far as settings go, and I still wasn't able to get the level of detail I wanted in the shot. (I wanted to see some craters, was that unrealistic with my 75-300mm lens?) This was the best one of the bunch. Settings were manual, f16, ss 1/200, ISO 400, focal length 300mm. I tried the "Sunny 16" rule, but couldn't get a good shot with that. Suggestions for next time and CC appreciated! Thanks!

My favorite thing, that's not really mine!

I regretted for a long time not choosing wedding china. I chose some dishes that were more practical, but then after I got married I would find myself drifting over in department stores and picking up cups and saucers and thinking how beautiful they would look on my table. Then, a few years ago, my mother-in-law decided to move to an apartment, and downsized her belongings, and she gave her beautiful Theodore Haviland "Apple Blossom" china to my young daughter. Well, I lost no time in getting a china cabinet to put it in! When Becca gets married someday I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time parting with it! Settings for this shot were Av mode, f2.2, ss 1/100, ISO 400, 50mm lens. HHCC appreciated!